Mesothelioma Blog

There are various factors that can affect the prognosis and life expectancy (survival) of mesothelioma patients. Some of the factors have greater affect on the survival of mesothelioma patients than others. The common factors that influence survival and life expectancy of a mesothelioma patiets are:

Type of mesothelioma:

Generally three types of mesothelioma are common and they are pleural, peritoneal (lining of abdomen) and pericardial (covering of heart is known as pericardium) mesothelioma. There can also be other uncommon types of mesothelioma like testicular mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma is the commonest type which affects the pleura or the lining or the coverings of lungs. Generally patients with pleural mesothelioma lives longer, because it is the commonest form of mesothelioma and most of the research and treatment studies are done on pleural mesothelioma in compare to other less common types.

In the United States more than 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed every year and most of the cases are due to exposure to asbestos due to presence of asbestos in the work place of some indirect exposure to asbestos. It is only natural for the patient to know about the possible prognosis of the disease he/she has developed. The disease may be mild simple viral fever or a cancer like mesothelioma. Even it becomes a duty of the doctor diagnosing the mesothelioma or treating the disease to discuss the possible prognosis of mesothelioma or any other disease and also the probable influence mesothelioma will have on the normal functioning of the patient of mesothelioma.

The factors which may influence the prognosis of mesothelioma are many. The most important factor that influence the prognosis of mesothelioma is detection time, the earlier it is diagnosed the better is the prognosis; unfortunately most of the mesotheliomas are diagnosed when they are in late stage.

Mesothelioma is a relatively rare cancer, but the outcome of the cancer is not favorable. The treatment options (generally surgical, radiotherapy and chemotherapy options are available for treatment of mesothelioma) that are available at present are not satisfactory.

At NCI (National Cancer Institute) there are certain modalities of treatment procedures are being studied. Several clinical trials (research studies involving people with mesothelioma and normal people without mesothelioma) are being done to find out the best available treatment option for mesothelioma. The clinical trials are for finding out the best ways to use among presently available treatment options and also to try to find out new treatment modalities.

Treatment of mesothelioma depends on many factors. These factors are mainly of patient related, like the stage of mesothelioma, the location of the mesothelioma cancer, general health status of the patient and also the age of the patient. In general like any other cancer mesothelioma has three options of treatment, which may be used alone or in combination one two or more options together. The standard treatment options of mesothelioma are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Diagnosis of mesothelioma may pose a problem due to the similarity of the symptoms and signs with many other medical conditions, especially those of respiratory diseases. But sometimes the diagnosis can be predicted based on careful assessment of clinical and radiological findings (if accurate diagnosis is not possible, a good guess can be made).

The incidence of mesothelioma:

Mesothelioma is a relatively rare cancer, although there is an increase incidence of mesothelioma in the last 20 years, but still a rare disease. Approximately 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed every year in the United States. Mesothelioma occurs more commonly in men than in women. The risk of mesothelioma increases with age, but this disease can appear in either at any age, as well as 30-40 years of exposure to risk factors.